First of all, a big thank you to everyone for your
Post# of 148168
I’m pretty active in that I run most days and I also swim and surf. I haven’t done any gym work for a few years so my wife got me a gift certificate for a local HIIT gym. I like the idea of 30 min intense workouts because I find weightlifting boring. But I made the mistake of running to the gym to schedule my first time appointment, insufficiently hydrated and in 80F weather, and I allowed them to talk me into jumping right in 10 minutes later. That night I obviously had sore muscles but something felt different about my triceps. I couldn’t bend my arms or touch my head and the pain overnight was intense, as if my bones hurt.
I started doing some reading and learned about Rhabdomyolysis and kept an eye on my urination which should’ve been completely clear considering how much water I was consuming. It started to get a tint of brown, like tea, and was foamy. My wife was skeptical because she knows I like to scare myself with WebMD, but I finally decided to get checked out because everything I read about kidney failure and possibly death scared the shit out of me.
So, 72 hrs after my first workout (the cause) and 24 hours after second workout (legs — didn’t use triceps) I went to Kaiser. Urinalysis and bloodwork confirmed it.
The primary problem with Rhabdomyolysis is creatine kinase. When skeletal muscle breaks down the CK enzyme enters the bloodstream and can cause renal failure and heart problems. It’s rare and can be fatal.
My CK level…
>41,000 U/L
Standard range
<=398 U/L
The hope, with rest and fluids, is that tomorrow the 41,000 will be much lower and I’ll be on the road to full recovery.
Moral of the story: Always hydrate and slowly ramp up your workouts.